Last Friday, we received Jay Z's first proper interview since releasing his acclaimed album 4:44. The interview went down on TIDAL (where else), with Elliott Wilson and B. Dot, as part of the duo's Rap Radar Podcast series. It was teased as part one of two, and lo and behold, this Friday we're receiving part two.
The first part was already an hour long conversation, as Elliott, B. Dot and Hov sat around a table littered with food (but did not eat a thing!), and discussed quite in-depth the themes and ideas behind much of the music on 4:44. To that effect, we got some nice gems and explainers from Jay, especially for stuff that may have been overlooked by the masses-- Jay specifically pointed out how, for whatever reason, the presumed "money phone" slight off the record "The Story of OJ," became the center of attention by the media, on a song that had a much more important message to it. Jay even touched on, rather openly (to a point), his current relationship or issues with Kanye West, as well as the infamous elevator situation with Solange.
The second part is another hour of conversation, picking up right where we left off, with Hov speaking on the many meanings behind the number 4, and the importance of the number.
We quickly get into some great insight, as Jay reveals that when he first made the song "Smile" with Gloria Carter, his mom did not approve. "We just had a beautiful conversation and it led to me making the song, and I didn't have permission to make the song. And when she first heard then song, she was like, 'absolutely not,' and I was like, 'man, this is so important. So many people in the world hiding,'" Jay reveals, before going on to say it's "one of my proudest songs."
The discussion of family contributions to 4:44 continues, as Hov breaks down the making of Blue Ivy's feature, which is hilarious. Hov even goes on to shed some light on the naming of his twins, Rumi and Sir Carter. "Rumi is our favorite poet, so that's for our daughter, and Sir was just like, man, like, come out the gate. He carries himself like that, he just came out, like, Sir." This is just within the first seven minutes, so there will be plenty more to unpack within the other 50 minutes.
Catch a very short preview below, or register for TIDAL to watch/listen to the full interview.